Do you own or help operate one of the almost 90,000 accounting practices situated throughout the U.S. these days? If so, you should make sure you invest in the best practice management software at some point.
If you aren’t using this kind of software to your advantage, you’re making a huge mistake. You’re probably spending more time than you should keeping tabs on everything from your clients to your cash flow.
When you choose practice management software that’ll benefit your business, you’ll be able to set your sights on providing the best services possible. You’ll wonder why you didn’t decide to do it so much sooner.
Don’t just choose any practice management software and run with it, though. Instead, take your time while picking software out and see to it that you end up with the best option of the bunch.
Take a look at our guide on how to choose practice management software below.
Find Options
If you haven’t ever used accounting practice management software before, you might not have the slightest clue as to what your options are. It’s why you should kick things off by creating a list of options for software.
Google something like “practice management software for accounting firms” and see what appears. You might be shocked to see just how many different options there are out there.
You might be tempted to select whichever practice management software lands at the top of the list and run with it. But there’s no guarantee that this will be the best option of the bunch. You’ll be better off compiling a list and going from there.
Research Choices
Once you have a list of every practice management software option you can find, the next step will be researching them. You should be able to find websites that have been set up for your options for software.
On the website for this software, you’ll be able to find out how long it’s been used. You might also be able to get a glimpse of which accounting practices have used it in the past.
You may even be able to see practice management software in action right before your very eyes. The more you’re able to learn about this software and the practice management software provider who makes it, the easier it’ll be to start to hone in on the best options.
Evaluate Features
One thing you’ll begin to notice is that not all software will have the same practice management software features. Certain software will have more features readily available than others.
With this in mind, you might want to jot down a list of the features found in each piece of practice management software you’re considering. By doing this, you’ll be able to see which ones have the features your accounting practice will definitely need.
You’ll also be able to see which options are a little light when it comes to features. You’ll more than likely want to toss these options out and stick with the practice management software that has all the features you could ever want.
Read Reviews
While you’re browsing around on the websites for practice management software, one thing will become crystal clear. Each practice management software provider will make it look like their software is superior to all the rest.
Some of these providers could very well be telling the truth. But some are also going to be offering practice management software that isn’t going to check all the right boxes for you.
So, how can you separate the two? One of the best ways to do it will be by reading online reviews for practice management software. These reviews will reveal which software has earned the respect of accounting practices throughout the country.
If a particular type of practice management software has pretty much nothing but positive reviews, it’s probably safe to say that this software will be every bit as great as people say. If, on the other hand, it has one negative review after another, it’ll be a different story.
Your goal should be to choose practice management software that is well-respected within the accounting industry. PracticePro 365 will prove to be an excellent example of this.
Get Recommendations
Are you friendly with other accounting practice owners? If you are, you shouldn’t be shy about turning to them for advice when you’re shopping around for practice management software.
There’s a good chance they would be willing to tell you which practice management software you’ll want to look into using. Or at the very least, they may be able to steer you away from selecting software that they tried and hated.
Either way, it would be well worth checking in with other accounting practice owners to get their recommendations. They could really come in handy and guide you in the right direction while you’re on the hunt for reliable practice management software.
Try Demos
Of all the different tips we’re going to provide for you here on how to choose practice management software, this one will be the most important. So listen up!
It can be challenging trying to figure out how practice management software will work for you based solely on the descriptions for it. So many practice management software providers will actually give you the opportunity to try out demos of their software.
If you’re able to convince companies to let you do this, take full advantage of it and spend a couple of hours tinkering with the software. It’ll give you a great feel for how this software will work once you begin using it for your accounting practice.
In a perfect world, you’ll want to pick practice management software that’s very intuitive and easy to use. You should be able to get the hang of using it from pretty much the start so that you don’t run into any complications down the line.
If you spend time messing around with a demo and you’re still lost after an hour or so, that won’t be a good sign. It’ll mean you should look elsewhere for software that’ll have features that’ll make it so much simpler to use.
Compare Prices
There is obviously going to be a cost that’ll come along with practice management software. You don’t necessarily want to base your entire decision on which software to buy based on cost. But you also don’t want to overlook cost and put yourself in a position where you’ll have to overpay for software.
When you’re in the initial stages of comparing practice management software features, you should also try comparing software prices. There might be a few types of software you can rule out immediately after hearing how much they’ll cost.
Make it your mission to focus only on the practice management software that’s going to fit nicely into your accounting firm’s budget. Otherwise, you might stretch yourself too thin and not have a great first experience with this software.
Pay attention both to the initial software costs and any recurring costs that you’ll face over time while using this software. You’ll be glad you did when you’re able to find room in the budget for the software you choose.
Consider Customer Service
When you’re first trying to figure out how to use practice management software, you’ll have a million and one questions. You’ll need to have a practice management software provider in your corner that can answer each and every one of them.
There are, however, some practice management software providers that aren’t going to have the best customer service departments. They’ll take too long to respond to your questions or, worse, they won’t ever get back to you when you need help setting up your software.
This is not the kind of practice management software provider you want on your side. It’s why you should start putting a company’s customer service to the test immediately.
The moment you begin talking to them about their software, they should be ready to address all your questions and concerns. They should be every bit as warm and welcoming as you need them to be while also giving you the feedback you desire.
If you don’t get the sense that a company’s customer service has time for you, that should serve as a big red flag. You should continue your search for a provider that’ll be more interested in helping you at every turn.
Test Help Desk
Let’s say you choose practice management software and begin using it but run into issues at some point. What are you going to do next?
Chances are, you’ll reach out to the company that provided you with the software for troubleshooting. They should have a help desk set up that can get you back on the right track in no time.
This might seem like it would be obvious. But there are some providers who won’t have dedicated help desks to assist you. It’ll leave you to fend for yourself when you’re struggling to use software.
You can get around this by putting a company’s help desk to the test long before you actually need to use it. Find the help desk section on their website and poke around on it to see how easy it is (or isn’t!) to get troubleshooting information.
If it seems impossible to get any actual help from a help desk, it’ll suggest that a particular practice management software provider might not be a good choice. You’ll want to go back to the drawing board and find a different provider to help.
Make a Decision
At this point, you’ve hopefully taken all the necessary steps to learn about the different practice management software options. There should be one type of software starting to stand out to you.
You should play around with the demo for it one more time. Make sure you’re comfortable using it and that you like what it has to offer.
Touch base with the practice management software provider, too. Test out their customer service one more time and browse through the different troubleshooting topics on their help desk.
As long as you still like what you see, it’ll be clear that this is the best option for you. You can choose this practice management software, pay for it, and start using it day in and day out.
From there, all you’ll need to worry about is keeping your software updated and dealing with any troubleshooting issues that may come your way. It’ll be smooth sailing otherwise as you use this software to elevate your accounting practice to the next level.
Once you see how helpful practice management software can be, it’ll make you question why you didn’t invest in it before. It’ll make your life so much easier, and with a little luck, it should have you raking in bigger profits than ever before in the weeks, months, and years to come.
Use These Tips to Choose Practice Management Software
It isn’t always easy to choose practice management software. With so many options available, they’ll all begin to blend together at times and confuse you.
But it’ll be very important to select practice management software you love. It’ll make such a big difference to your accounting practice. You’ll be running a much tighter ship in a hurry and loving just how helpful this software is to your practice’s overall well-being.
Would you like to obtain more tips on running a more successful accounting practice? Find additional business-related advice in our other blog articles.
